Cracks that revealed the bricks hidden inside, vines that creep upward wrapping the walls in their hug, windows that were clouded into dull mirrors.
One look and one could tell this place was once a place full of history and had now left abandoned to decay. Yet the tall and sturdy structure didn't crumble under the flow of time, making it the perfect place to hide and seek shelter.
This was the building where all members of the white faction gathered.
Arriving as soon as the sun rose, Keith frowned when he first saw the state of the building that was supposed to be their base of operations.
Air full of dust wafted through his nose with each step he took. Sunlight slips in through cracked windows and broken panes with no signs of the lightbulb being turned on. If he wasn't told beforehand, he might think that this place was going to get demolished soon.
"Second floor was it?"
Recounting the words of his King, Keith moved his legs to climb up the stairs.
When he first got summoned through the power of King's crest, Keith couldn't hide his surprise. He knew the War of Throne had some supernatural aspects involved but he didn't expect that aspect to be individual abilities.
And what shocked him even more was the fact that the King who called him through that ability was Haide Ritcher, a dangerous man in the underworld and the lover of the person he once called his wife.
"You've come."
Keith stopped in his tracks when he spotted a man sitting indolently on a single-person sofa, facing the dull glass panels ahead. He brushed his bangs with a slight annoyed look on his face, the tone in his voice showed his irritation.
"You told us to come here without any explanation and I arrived on time, so what's the problem?" Keith scowled.
When Haide summoned them, he only said two sentences. Introducing himself as the King, and told them to meet up in this building in two days – threatening them by using his authority as the bearer of King's crest.
He didn't even give his members a chance to ask questions and reverse summon them before any of them could answer.
So how dare this bastard gave him that look?
"Ha, the problem is you. Even a glimpse of your face makes me sick." Haide shifted in his seat, releasing his pheromones as he stared directly into Keith's eyes. Keith didn't stand back either, both their pheromones clashed in a fight of dominance.
Leaning his arm on the sofa's armrest, Haide smirked.
"Is a punch to the gut and recesses of your company's stock not enough to make you stay out of Yolan's way?"
"You… So you're the one causing problems-"
Haide was one of the biggest shareholders in the economic world. Keith had to admit, Haide's business insight was incredible. Adding to his relations and influence he had in the underworld, Haide was a terrifying enemy to fight against.
He was the type of person who was willing to suffer losses just to spite Keith.
'He must be talking about when I visited Yolan to ask him back.'
Things started going downhill from that moment.
'So Yolan is that important to him.'
Loving someone was a beautiful act of humanity, but that was a weakness in War of Throne. Haide must have also known this, so why did this man in front of him expose his weakness willingly?
"I'm just letting you know, but I hate you and your existence. I wish I could kill you right now, but as a Queen, you're too valuable a pawn to throw away. So work with me Keith Zylvar, I'll lay out my plans and you have to make it succeed."
Haide stood up and held out his hand in front of Keith.
Logically, Keith knew having this man as a King was one of the top choices you could have to win this war. But emotionally, was Haide that ruthless that he's willing to kill his lover to reach his goal?
And similarly, could Keith also kill the one he now had feelings for?
Silence fell upon both of them as both stood still, even the dust particle in this room seemed to have more movement than they did.
Releasing a sigh, Keith finally moved forward and shook Haide's hand. Raising his gaze, Keith said slowly, "Fine then, as long as you can help me achieve my wish."
Haide smiled, "Sure, in return, stay as far away as you can from Yolan. He's mine."
Then his grip on Keith's hand tightened as his eyes sharpened, "And if you ever expose my relationship with him to others, I'll destroy not just your business, but also your life so that you'd wish you were dead instead."
Keith scoffed, "I'll just kill you under the pretense of threat. Did you forget our world's law?"
Haide chuckled as he closed the distance between their face and whispered in Keith's ear, "It's precisely because I understand our world's law that it's easy to kill you. Do you think the police and the church would be able to find out if I presented the 'truth'?"
He then hovered his hand on Keith's neck, "What do you think? Between my fake evidence and yours, which do you think would be more justified in the eyes of the judge?"
'He's a madman.'
Keith now knew what kind of insane bastard Haide was. He had no morals and lived his life with the mindset of a criminal.
He's willing to take any risk to attain his desire.
Someone with a trait Keith didn't dare to mess with.
"Seems like I've got the right place. Hope I don't interrupt anything."
A woman in red dress and heels walked inside the room – breaking the tension between the two. Glamorous accessories of different shades of hue adorned her slender body. One waft of her pheromones and the two inside the room already knew she was an alpha.
Letting out a breathless chuckle, Haide released his grip on Keith's hand and welcomed the woman with a smile.
"Glad you came on time. Now we just need to wait for the other five to come."
His joyful smile was a stark contrast with how Keith first stepped into this room. The difference almost made him laugh.
'So this is the King I have to work with?'
A crazy bastard with double personality. Just looking at him acting like he's a nice guy while threatening the others who stood in his way.
'Does Yolan even know this side of him?'
He might not know it. After all, the Yolan Keith knew was a stoic man undisturbed by anything.
'Or is he?'
These past few months Keith discovered more and more little things about Yolan. Now, he wasn't sure the Yolan he knew in his mind was the same as reality.
"Name's Rachel Harper. What's yours?"
His strings of thoughts were broken when the woman approached him and stretched out her hand. The crest of a horse with its mane forming a sword was embedded on the back of her hand.
Putting on his business smile, Keith shook her hand and answered.
"Keith Zylvar. Nice to meet you."
She smiled, "So you're our Queen, seemed like both you and our King have something going on huh?"
Haide was the one who answered, "Geez, does our relationship look that bad in the eyes of others?"
Wrapping his arm around Keith's shoulder, Haide grinned, "It's just a friendly banter between friends. I've known him before the War of Throne started, so of course we have to set some boundaries to keep it professional."
Keith glanced at the man beside him.
'Look at that fake attitude, he's grinning like a fool.'
He almost clicked his tongue at the sudden switch of personality.
Rubbing her chin, Rachel hummed, "I see… Then I assume we'll be discussing our plans in this building then?"
Haide released his grip on Keith and nodded, "Yes, this will be our base for the time being. Once the others arrive, I will tell you guys what to do."
"So you already have a plan in mind?"
"More or less. To fight the black faction, we need to lure them out from their base first, which we don't know where it is right now. So we need to gather force and lay out the basic work, such as obtaining firearms, bombs and introducing you guys to the basic rules of War of Throne first."
Keith chimed in, "You… Do you know the details?"
Haide scoffed, tapping on his temple as he looked at him, "Do you know? As a King, some important rules of this war are implanted into our head, one of it is the rules of the war and their principalities. I know what I need to know, and you guys will get that share of knowledge from me."
'So that's how you want to play it.'
Haide would hoard all the important information while feeding us a few drops of knowledge needed for us to survive, so when we needed him, we would crawl back to his feet and beg him to save us.
'He wasn't planning to give his full trust to us from the start.'
Haide was indeed a bastard Keith didn't like to work with.